Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hosted his counterpart from New Zealand for lunch at the Pentagon Monday, but there was no sign of progress on lifting the South Pacific nation’s 26-year-old ban on docking U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and other warships.

But Hagel announced a new agreement that will bring New Zealand into the annual Rim of the Pacific Exercise, or RIMPAC, and formally invited New Zealand ships to dock alongside U.S. ships at Naval Station Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Hagel did not mention the Cold War-era ban on U.S. Navy ships visiting New Zealand ports during the joint press briefing that followed his lunch with Minister of Defense Jonathan Coleman.

New Zealand banned nuclear-armed and nuclear-powered ships from docking there in 1987, leading to a breakdown in military relations with the U.S.

The ice began to thaw last year when former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited New Zealand, the first such visit by a U.S. defense secretary in about 30 years.

As part of the U.S. military’s “rebalance” toward the Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps have recently increased their activities in nearby Australia.